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While the initial attempt failed, Progressive Conservative Party president Erika Hachey hopes to receive sufficient letters by August 19.
(LifeSiteNews) – New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives failed to trigger a leadership review of Premier Blaine Higgs over his decision to add parental protections to its Gender Identity policy for public schools.
On July 31, New Brunswick Progressive Conservative (PC) Party president Erika Hachey announced the party had not received sufficient complaints to begin the process to remove the Higgs from office.
“I have determined that the requirements have not been satisfied,” Hachey said. “The leadership review process has not been triggered.”
In May, Higgs came under fire by LGBT activists for reviewing the province’s Gender Identity policy, as it allowed schools to hide students’ “transgender” status from parents.
“For [a desire to be identified with the opposite sex] purposefully to be hidden from the parents, that’s a problem,” Higgs told reporters, referring to his desire to change Policy 713, which currently requires children give consent for their parents to be informed if they decide to “change” their gender at school.
“To suggest that it’s okay that parents don’t need to know — just stop and think about that question for a moment,” he added.
Under the new policy, parental consent would be necessary for teachers to use different names or pronouns for students under age 16.
In July, the PC party members submitted what they believed were letters from at least 50 party members required to begin a review of Higg’s leadership and eventually remove him from office.
However, after a review and legal advice, just over 40 letters from current party members were submitted, with only 15 from actual riding presidents. As a result, Hachey set a new deadline of August 19, hoping to receive the sufficient number of letters by then.
Should the party receive the necessary letters, the leadership review must be approved by the PC Party’s provincial council of around 75 members including riding presidents, five caucus members, and other regional party heads. The party is scheduled to meet September 9.